Concert Photography

Turn Off Your Goddamn Flash!

Excuse my language, but are you shitting me? You’re standing dead center in front row, literally leaning on the stage, so close to the performer that you can feel them exhale AND YET YOU’RE STILL GOING TO BLAST YOUR FUCKING FLASH ON THEIR FACE? It’s important to note that you can see from the angle of the flash, that it’s not coming from me. And why is this? Because I’m a decent human being and understand that no one in the world enjoys the momentary blindness that occurs from a camera flash!

So next time you’re anywhere with a camera capable of flash, remind yourself: Would your subject enjoy prolonged retina longevity? There’s a general rule for photographers in the pit to not use their flash because it not only distracts the performer, it also blinds them! It’s already bad enough that everyone in the crowd is watching behind a screen with their phones and cameras all out but to have the people directly below using flash as well? That’s just inhuman.

Also, there are photographers at concerts for a reason: to take high quality photos. Bands and artists are even known to hire their own photographers to make sure fans have quality high-resolution photographs to download as they please. They do this so the concert-goer can put down the devices and enjoy the show! Don’t ruin your experience by being worried if you got photos or not and most importantly, don’t ruin the performer’s viewing ability.

Nancy Hoang created Hopeless Thunder in 2007. She conducts the interviews, writes the articles, photographs the concerts, and handles the site's coding & design. (She's basically a control freak.) Her work can also be seen on music publication, CMJ. Contact Nancy for image licensing, assignments, or just to say hi.